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    Space station moves up and out of way of debris

    Associated Press – Fri, Jan 13, 2012

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Space Station has moved up and out of the way of a softball-sized piece of space junk.

    NASA officials said debris from an old U.S. private communication satellite would have come within three miles (5 kilometers) of the orbiting outpost on Friday had the station not changed its orbit.

    Space junk moves so fast that it can puncture the station, so engineers try to give debris a wide berth whenever something comes close.

    Astronauts fired the station's engines for 54 seconds Friday to move the outpost about 1,000 feet (305 meters) higher. NASA said it needed to boost the station's orbit anyway to get ready for a cargo delivery.

    This is the 13th time the space station has dodged space junk since 1998.

     

    32 comments

    • rusty
      rusty  •  4 mths ago
      And we can thank the USAF Space Surveillance System (formerly Naval Space Surveillance) for providing the collision avoidance service for all manned space flights. The Space Surveillance "Fence" recently celebrated its 50th anniversary as a space sensor. Well done!
    • bobby
      bobby  •  Climax, Colorado  •  4 mths ago
      didn't China blow up its satellite in space and created thousands of pieces junk a few years back?
      • Realism
        Realism 4 mths ago
        This particular piece is from an old US communications satellite.
      • James
        James 4 mths ago
        yes they did but so did the US...
      • Lili Q
        Lili Q 4 mths ago
        If the US had blown up a Red Chinese satellite, we'd have heard about it.
    • R
      R  •  4 mths ago
      I was told the space station did not have any engines and had to rely on visits from the shuttle and Soyuz for navigation. Where did these new engines come from?
      • Goblin
        Goblin 4 mths ago
        they used the shuttle's engines to boost the orbit so that the ISS didn't have to use it's own fuel, but the ISS has it's own means of adjusting it's orbit like other satellites.
    • Joe No
      Joe No  •  4 mths ago
      . Why not put satellite debris sweepers in orbit. Maybe using some of those super strong materials that are as strong as a spider thread. Or some other means. The Sweeper could dock with the ISS and deposit its load there to be disposed of properly by the inhabitants. Or just propel them down towards earth.
      • Motie
        Motie 4 mths ago
        As good an idea as that sounds, the reality is such a program would dwarf the Pentagon budget in spending. Actual space travel is far more complex than in the movies.
      • James
        James 4 mths ago
        easier said than done. And the space station doesnt have any place to keep the space junk or dispose of it. Neither do they have the facilities or experience to dissemble the satellites. The satellites also carry dangerous fuels that could destroy the space station if not handled properly. The best course of action it to let them burn up on reentry.
      • b chas
        b chas 4 mths ago
        this is how scifi books are written. from hair brained ideas like yours. good luck in your future career.
    • Radstorm
      Radstorm  •  Indianapolis, Indiana  •  4 mths ago
      This sounds like a job for.. Super Shop Vac! :)
    • ......
      ......  •  Syracuse, New York  •  4 mths ago
      in the new issue of popular science they just announced they've invented cheaper sattellites...all about the size of a baseball...this shoud be fun...
    • johnsmith
      johnsmith  •  4 mths ago
      Both China and the USA have shot and destroyed a satellite making for many more small pieces to dodge. I am a dummy but that seems dunb too.
    • Ric 7
      Ric 7  •  4 mths ago
      And this debris and everything else up in space....is moving at a speed of or near 21,000 miles an hour, right? Or am i wrong?
    • C.C.
      C.C.  •  San Jose, California  •  4 mths ago
      i cant beliece we're already polluting space, good grief :(
      • MacTheEye
        MacTheEye 4 mths ago
        Have been for years.
      • Tom
        Tom 4 mths ago
        Ever watch the movie Wall-E?
      • C.C.
        C.C. 4 mths ago
        classic tom lol
    • Lucifer Christ
      Lucifer Christ  •  Tombstone, Arizona  •  4 mths ago
      "Might puncture" is quite an understatement. A softball sized chunk of crap speeding at about 23k mph would do a hell of a lot of damage, especially if it were a direct hit. Which in turn would add more space junk taking out more satellites,causing more junk...ect.
      • Mort
        Mort 4 mths ago
        The impact speed would be relative... if the station was runnign with the debris.. in the same orbit in a near same direction, the closing speed of the debris would be comparatively slow... on the other hand.. a head on collision would be spectacular, if brief.
    • ragtop
      ragtop  •  Tampa, Florida  •  4 mths ago
      why haven't the powers that be done some collecting of space junk a long time ago. oh i forgot budget cuts.more money for our politicians. can't home in on any of that can we. humm
    • A Yahoo! User  •  4 mths ago
      Oh good...i was worried
    • D
      D  •  4 mths ago
      The debris was going to come within 3 kilometers of the space station so the solution was to move the station 1000 feet?
    • E
      E  •  4 mths ago
      shows you how nasty countries are.never took into account about cleaning up after themselves..should turn the retired space shuttle into a space garbage truck
    • IB_Smokin
      IB_Smokin  •  4 mths ago
      Wow . . . The piece of space junk was 3 Miles Away, That's 15,840 ft. and they didn't feel safe but after moving the space station another 1,000 ft everything was good to go. Really??? 1,000 ft. made that much of a difference??? or is someone just trying to be a little theatrical with the news??
    • GLB
      GLB  •  Richardson, Texas  •  4 mths ago
      Why don't we just clean up the crap? Kind of like driving around a pothole in the road.
    • Mark
      Mark  •  4 mths ago
      It did not take humans long to mess up space too! We were not satisfied to just destroy the earth with junk and garbage, we had to do it out there also. We live on a planet full of pigs. If you do not believe this is true, just take a drive down a highway and look at the trash.
    • Bob
      Bob  •  Equality, Illinois  •  4 mths ago
      hey!!!....we as children had to clean up our messes---so since nasa and the other space monkey groups made this mess--they ought to be made to clean up the crap out there..
    • Christopher
      Christopher  •  Sacramento, California  •  4 mths ago
      Let's keep boosting it higher and higher, building it bigger and bigger until it serves as a way station for planetary and inter solar colonization.

      Or sell it to China for 6 trillion dollars?
    • Alfredo B
      Alfredo B  •  Alice, Texas  •  4 mths ago
      They should keep one space shuttle to take care of this. They can create a net that can catch the debris, deposit the net on the moon and then bring it back using the space shuttle.
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